In the early 2000s, the global music industry was in loss, and piracy was rife. Artists, labels, and everyone else in the industry was losing money. But then, the internet availed a new economy for the industry, in which you can listen to anything you wanted at any time and for free.
The widespread piracy started to decline rapidly and online streaming services and started booming. With a small amount of subscription, the streaming services were able to find middle ground for both the artists and their audience, where the audience enjoyed access to unlimited music in a free tier, and artists were able to earn money either from this music consumption or from advertising.
With the increase in the number of streaming services, there were also a lot of efforts put into blocking access to any piracy sites, and it was criminalized. However in the age of streaming, and specifically during the lockdowns due to the pandemic, piracy sites have witnessed a recent boost, despite the massive decline in the past years.
Since January, there has been a sudden increase in the phenomenon of stream-ripping. “Stream-ripping” refers to a type of piracy during which a user attempts to obtain a permanent copy of a content that is usually streamed online. The process can be applied to audio and video content. Some of the widely used stream-ripping apps are YouTube Downloader, Mp3 Video Converter, and Free YouTube to Mp3 Converter. And most are used to either listen to music or watch music videos.
Why are users stream-ripping in the age of streaming and digital music stores?
A recent study revealed that 46% of the stream-rippers pirate music because it enables them to access songs offline, and 37% simply wanted to own songs for free because they don’t like it enough to buy.
However, music piracy might be out there but there is no way that it would be as popular as it used to be before the advent of the streaming services, like Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon Music for music, and Netflix or Prime for TV and films.
Besides, with the increase in continuous support the artists receive from their fans, where they encourage artists through buying and streaming music from the available official routes, they are maintaining the entire ecosystem of the entertainment industry.